12 days

So as my son flys off to South Africa, and for the first time in our lives we will be forced to not have any contact for 12 days, I am compelled to take a little trip down memory lane...

To before he was born and I would sing to him all the time while feeling his soft heart beat against my spine, John Denver, the Mammas and the Pappas, and this one is for Ally - even the Carpenters: "Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near..."

Then the day he finally arrived all pink and squirming and I had NO CLUE what to do! I had never been around newborns and was terrified I would break him. Just trying to change his diaper was like wrestling an octopus!! Definitely NOT in the parenting books I had read.

The day that I was feeding him while talking on the phone with a friend, and accidentally dropped the phone...on his head! He was not happy - no more trying to multi-task for me!!

The time when he was one and I was sitting with him on the floor and I started ripping up some papers and the sound made him giggle in the sweetest way, so I kept doing it until he feel over in peels of giggles and got the hick-ups.

When he was two and half and my father was coming to see him for the second time in his life, and Duke decided to strip off all of his clothes and run around the house naked laughing gleefully, his blond curls bouncing, as I chased him, just as my father was ringing the doorbell.

Teaching him math while using a bean bag frog for hopscotch...learning can be fun!

The simple moments where I just look at him and for the only time in my life see my eyes looking back at me. :)

Playing football out in the yard when he was six and already up to my shoulder, and he was charging towards me, suddenly realizing he had too much momentum shouting "Ahhhh, I can't stop!!" "Ahhhh, nooo..." as he plowed right into me. Thud! Crash!! We ended up in a pile laughing hysterically.

Then taking him shopping when he was nine and Oh So Conservative a little boy, his store of choice for all of his clothes was Brooks Brothers, for polo shirts, and dress pants, and ties. (yikes-awesome, but yikes) Then we would go shopping for me at the, as he called it then - beat nick hippie shops, where I would hear - "That's kinda too tight and too short isn't it mom."
"Perfect!" I say, "I will take this one." (and grin at him) to my son's exasperated head shakes.

Coming out of his first year of guitar lessons, saying "I hate this thing, I will never be any good at it!" - to my response of "Just stick with it for one more year, if you still hate you can quite." ... fast forward to this year, where he and his school mates - during a guitar concert, decided to rip off their shirts half way through the show and play "Eye of the Tiger" bare chested to a screaming crowd. Needless to say HE doesn't hate it anymore ... I might regret it though!! (So much for Brooks Brothers!)

Taking him to the park to play tennis, take walks, and swing for hours, and watching him be so proud of himself when he could finally cross the monkey bars on his own :)

The first time we flew a kite and it taking us roughly 300 tries to get the crazy thing to fly and then when it did it all but lifted him off the ground and scared the foo out of him.

Our trip to Ireland, where we drove around Dublin for 6 hours attempting to find our hotel and driving the wrong way up a one way street, with him laughing and screaming...to stop at the Guarda station and beg for directions. The only thing that softened the Guarda enough to given in ... the look on Duke's face of - Dear God, please help us! Hahaha!

In Scotland, when we went to the "Oh, soooo cheesy" Lochness Monster museum and then walked around Inverness in the freezing winter cold looking at holiday lights and across a suspension bridge that moved with every step. He loved that part, me ... not so much! On our walk back to the hotel my jeans actually froze to my legs...Brrr!

Then there are some of my favorite times, like the other night, where we just walk - talk - and daydream, and of course save earthworms. Those are the times we are the closest and he is the most open, such a slice of heaven in those moments.

And lastly, just to circle back to the beginning, to us having dinner on his birthday a few weeks ago and I was telling him how wonderful I thought it was that he was a musician because I used to sing to him all the time before he was born. "You did?" he says.
"Yep, for hours."
"What did you sing?"
"Folk songs mostly, John Denver, the Mammas and the Pappas."
"Was one of the songs, Leaving on a jet plane??"
"Yeh, I sang that one a lot, it is one of my favorites. Why?"
"Because, I heard it the other day at the end of a movie...and I knew all the words, but didn't know why." then he just looked across the table at me his smile beaming.

Life just doesn't get any better than that!!

So, safe travels sweet son and a speedy return - I can't wait to make more memories :)